Children of Time
by Ruth Joyce
Summary: (Previously titled "Jack's Mission.") The Doctor has one last request of his old friend Captain Jack Harkness: Keep an eye on the companions he has to leave behind. Jack doesn't mind in the slightest, because besides being a flirt, he's also a very good friend. Rated K plus because Donna's chapter is a little bit sad.
1. Rose and Eleven

**Author's Note: Earlier I accidentally posted the wrong chapter. Sorry. Anyway, the first chapter is kind of short, sorry about that. It's kind of hard when he's not allowed to interact with little Rose. The other chapters are longer.**

* * *

Jack strolled casually through the park near the Powell estate. Undercover missions didn't bother him, he was used to it, and he could pick up a lot of information in a short time. He knew that every week Jackie Tyler brought little Rose and Mickey to this park to play, even if the day was cold, wet, and grey. Which was pretty much every day.

Jack missed his home planet. Of course, he could travel south to some warmer country, he had the money for it. But he was stayed close to Rose, her secret, personal bodyguard.

Today there didn't seem to be much danger; Rose and Mickey ran around the park playing tag with an older girl with dark brown hair. Jackie seemed to be chatting with the girl's mother. The only other person in view was a strange looking man in a tweed jacket and a bow tie swinging on the swing set, watching the children somewhat forlornly. The brown haired child broke off from the game and went to the swing next to the man. Jack was too far away to make out what was being said, so he changed his course ever so slightly to move nearer, mostly out of curiosity. But before he could get close, the girl ran back to her mother, turning at the last moment.

"Mister, I hope you find her again."

"Yeah, me too."

"Who was that?" the girl's mother asked, kneeling down.

"I was talking to a sad man."

"Clara Oswald, what did I tell you about talking to strange men?"

Clara grinned sheepishly as they walked off. "Sorry, mum."

By now, Rose and Mickey had disappeared. Jackie must have taken them home. Sighing, Jack turned and began to do the same, when he saw the strange man watching him a few feet away.

"Captain Jack Harkness," the man said. "I thought that might be you."

"It's me alright," Jack said, throwing his arms open dramatically. "But might I ask who you are? No offense, it's just I'm as time traveler, or I was, so sometimes I meet people in the wrong order."

The man laughed. "So do I. Only sometimes I regenerate and people don't recognize me."

"Doctor?!" Jack exclaimed. "Is that you?"

"It's me!" The Doctor said, imitating Jack. "What do you think?"

"The nose and ears are better, but the hair takes some getting used to."

"Of course you would say that," the Doctor grumbled. "So what are you up to nowadays? Working at Torchwood yet?"

"I am, but I'm on vacation. I come up here a lot. How did you know?"

"Like I said, wrong order. I would love to take you traveling with me, you'd probably be able to help with a problem, but I'm afraid I can't."

"Oh, why not?" Jack asked, pouting.

"Because I'm going to need you at Cardiff in a few years. And your work at Torchwood is essential to human history."

"Wow. No pressure then."

"It'll be natural for you, don't worry."

"So, will you like this?"

"No, I'll look like I did before this, but after what you last saw me as."

"I don't follow you."

"This my eleventh face," he explained. "Last time you saw me was on the space station with the Daleks and Rose, right?"

"First time I died and came back to life," Jack said.

"When that happened, I was in my ninth form. But after that I regenerated into tenth. So when you see me in Cardiff, I'll be in my tenth form. Skinny, long trench coat, and sticky-upy hair. And I've got the Tardis, which is the big give away."

"Right, I'll remember. So, what are you doing here?"

"Same as you, I suppose," he said, glancing towards the Powell estate. "Watching Rose grow up."

"Do you do that as often as I do?" Jack asked.

"How often do you do it?"

"I get off once or twice a month."

"Not that often. But I am thinking of staying on for a bit and tutoring her."

"What subjects?"

"Math, science, and world history."

"She'll ace those classes with you teaching."

"You bet she will! But I'm not doing that quite yet. I'm in the middle of something else that can't wait."

"That problem you mentioned earlier?"

"Yeah. I lost one of my friends. I met her twice, but she died each time. Sound familiar?"

"Yeah, me if I were a girl."

"Basically. But I'm trying to find her again. If you meet anyone like that at Torchwood, let me know."

"I'll keep an eye out for her."

"Thanks, mate," the Doctor said, slapping Jack on the back. "Ooh, I am never saying that again. Doesn't roll off the tongue like I thought it would. Anyway, best be off. Things to do. See you 'round, Captain."

"See you around, Doctor."

Jack only remembered to ask for a name for the mystery girl after he was gone.


	2. Sarah Jane and Luke

**Author's Note: Sorry this was so long in the making. I've been working on the story all week, but as I wrote I decided to switch the order around. Sarah Jane was originally the 4th chapter, but I moved it after writing chapters 2 and 3. Then I had to do some research on Luke since I didn't know that much about him. (that led to me just watching SJA for the fun of it) Next updates should be quicker since they're already written.**

* * *

The night after the earth was stolen by the Daleks, Jack found a crumpled up piece of paper in his coat pocket. Between finding apartments and jobs for Martha and Mickey in one day, he hadn't noticed it until now. He unfolded it carefully and held it up to the light.

"Keep in touch with them for me. Take care of them like you did for Rose.

—Doctor."

On the back were the address for Sarah Jane Smith and her son, and Donna Noble.

Jack grinned.

"Not a problem, Doctor."

* * *

As it turned out, all the Doctor's companions wanted to keep in touch anyway. The next morning, Jack got a call from none other than Sarah Jane Smith.

"I want you to come over for supper," she said. "As a thank you for helping save the world."

"Well, you helped too," Jack said. "Don't be modest."

"Alright. We'll swap war stories. And you can meet my son! And K-9."

"I'd like that," Jack said. "What about next Thursday?"

"Works for me."

"See you then."

* * *

When Sarah Jane answered the doorbell, Jack was dressed in a sharp tuxedo, with his hair neatly slicked back.

"I hope I've dressed for the occasion," he said worriedly.

She laughed lightly. "I didn't mean to have a formal dinner, but you'll be fine," she promised

"I hope supper will be ready soon because I'm starving. Spent the day fighting aliens," he joked.

"I understand. Don't worry, Luke's setting the table now. Do come in. Now, I don't want any of your flirting, do you hear me? He's only fourteen, and he's _my_ son!"

"I wouldn't dream of it," Jack promised.

"You did the other day," she reminded him as she led him to the small dining room.

"Actually, I was only wondering if he had a future with us at Torchwood. From what I saw he was a very bright kid."

"Oh!" Sarah Jane said, slightly surprised. "He might like that, actually. Luke?" she called, not seeing her son. "I thought you were putting dinner on the table."

"I am," Luke said, bringing out the fresh bangers and mash.

"Oh, that looks nice," Jack said.

Luke looked up at him in slight alarm. "Was this supposed to be a formal function?"

"No, you don't have to dress up," Sarah Jane said.

"Oh. Is that only Americans?"

"Nope, just me!" Jack said. He extended a hand in a friendly manner. "Captain Jack Harkness. Pleased to meet you at last."

"Remember what I said when you came in," Sarah reminded him.

"I'm only saying hello!"

"Hello can have a lot of different meanings," Luke offered.

"Like I said before, smart kid. Now, dinner."

He pulled back a chair for Sarah Jane and then took his place across from her.

"So," he began. "I'm interested to hear your story, since we didn't get a chance to talk the other day. I know there's a computer called Mr. Smith, but was there ever a human? Or did the human get turned into the computer?" he smirked.

"Why would that be funny?" Luke asked as Sarah Jane and Jack laughed.

"Just a joke," Jack said.

"He's still trying to grasp the concept of humor," Sarah Jane explained. "And no, there never was a human. Mr. Smith was a computer from the beginning. Up until Luke, I mostly kept to myself and my machines. I suppose I got a bit lonely."

"But I changed that," Luke said.

"Yes, you did," Sarah said, smiling at him. "Do you remember a couple years back when that drink Bubble Shock was all the rage with young people?"

"All but me. I was within the 2% of the population that didn't like it. Let me guess, aliens were in charge of it?"

"Yes, they were trying to invade the planet. And they grew Luke to deal with that 2% problem. They scanned everyone who entered the factory, then beamed the information about their brains into his."

"Which explains why you're so smart," Jack finished.

"Unfortunately, when he was "born," that is, woke up and escaped, he had incredible memory and intelligence, but very little knowledge about how the world works."

"So you had to learn how to fit in. Must have been hard, huh?"

Luke nodded. "Yeah."

"My first adventure with the Doctor left me dead in a space station thousands of years in the future."

"Dead?" Sarah Jane asked, startled.

"And then Rose absorbed the time vortex, which gave her immense powers that somehow brought me back to life forever. If I die, I'll wake up again in a few seconds."

"Is that good or bad?" Luke asked.

"Sometimes both. Like on the Crucible the other day: I was able to take my death by actually dying and not getting up afterwards. I was able to sneak away and help Jackie and Mickey."

"Which was good," Luke finished.

"Very good."

"But if you were on a spaceship thousands of years in the future, how did you get back to earth?"

"Ah, yes. I had a vortex manipulator, only I over shot and sent hundreds of years in the past. Learning to fit in there was a challenge."

"So you're hundreds of years old?"

"Yep. I look good for it, don't I?"

"Do you ever age?" Luke asked.

"I think so, but extremely slowly."

"Like the Doctor?" he asked.

"I'm as much like the Doctor as you can get. I just don't change my face when I "regenerate" like he does."

They continued eating in silence for awhile. "So you were born with no knowledge of how the world works. How fast did you learn to talk?"

"I learned to talk by copying Maria," he said. "It didn't take long, it was easy."

"Oh? Who's Maria?"

Luke looked down at his food sadly. Sarah Jane sighed. "She was our old neighbor. But her dad got a job elsewhere and she moved. They talk almost every day but it is hard not to actual see each other."

"I know the feeling. So, you were able to escape the factory," he prompted.

"Yes, I blew up the Bane mother with the alien phone. The whole factory exploded!"

"Oh," Jack realized. "Now that you mention it, I think Torchwood was called in to investigate that. Unfortunately I wasn't on that mission."

"You were a little late," Sarah Jane said cheekily.

"Well, there's a lot more alien stuff going on than anybody, even the Doctor, realizes."

"What exactly do you do at Torchwood?" Luke asked.

"We investigate possible alien hostilities," Jack said. "We collect space debris that has fallen to earth or been taken in battles and we analyze it. Sometimes, we use that information to build weapons to defend ourselves, or prevent alien attacks."

"So...you're kind of like mum, but there are lots of you and you have guns?"

"Well," Jack began.

"Yes. That pretty much sums it up," Sarah Jane interrupts.

"We did do a substantial part in returning the earth," Jack said.

"True," Sarah Jane said. "But Torchwood does use guns too often for my liking."

"But mum, don't we usually end up having to destroy the aliens?"

"Sometimes violence is necessary, but we still have to give them a chance. It's what the Doctor would do."

"Might I point out that I'm trying to make Torchwood better? They used to just blow things up without question. Like the Sycorax invasion that one Christmas? That was Torchwood that blew the ship up. And after the Doctor had peaceably turned them away, too."

"That was the act that got Harriet Jones deposed?"

Jack nodded gravely. "I was thinking about having a quiet funeral," he said. "Just those of us on the Tardis that day, out of the spotlight."

"She should be honored properly," Sarah Jane said. "After the funeral, perhaps. I could write an article."

"That would be nice of you," Luke said.

"That's actually a great idea. I was just thinking of commissioning a wax statue for the museums, with a fancy plaque."

"We couldn't do both?" asked Luke.

"I don't see why not," Sarah Jane said, smiling. "We could even invite the Doctor."

"He doesn't like to do things like that," Jack said. "Besides, I don't have his number."

"I do," Luke offered. "I remember it."

"You know, we could use a mind like yours at Torchwood. Not now, obviously," he added, seeing Sarah Jane start to object. "But when you're older and looking for a job."

"I'll consider it," Luke said excitedly.

* * *

Jack stayed far into the night, talking with the two of them. When they finally wrapped up the conversation, it was so late that Sarah Jane let him sleep in the spare room. Unfortunately, he received a distress call from Torchwood and had to slip out early the next morning, but he left a note thanking them. Throughout the day, he couldn't stop thinking about their unlikely family, especially Luke. The boy had a bright future ahead of him, that was obvious. But, Jack wondered, would he end up with Torchwood, or with the Doctor?

* * *

 **AN: sorry if anyone's out of character. It's hard to gauge how young Luke was in "Journey's End" since his cameo was brief, and I don't know much about SJA yet. Also, this takes place in the same universe as "You'll Be In My Heart," though I'm changing some of the details in that story now that I know more about Luke.**


	3. Martha and Mickey

**Author's Note: this came from the idea that it was Jack who originally got Martha and Mickey together. I know that Martha didn't actually take the job at Torchwood, but let's pretend she did for the sake of this story.**

* * *

Keeping an eye on Mickey and Martha wasn't all that difficult, seeing as they were both working at Torchwood now. For the first week, they seemed to be adjusting fine. Mickey was used to this as he had worked for Torchwood in the alternate universe. As for Martha, it was pretty similar work to what she had done at Unit. But about a week or so later, Jack noticed she seemed a little down and somewhat depressed. So he did what he usually did to cheer people up. He flirted with her.

"Please don't," she snapped.

Well, that plan backfired.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you're engaged. I guess your fiancé wouldn't like that."

Martha looked down at the paperwork she had been sorting. "Not anymore," she said quietly. She picked up a stack of documents and started to walk away briskly.

"Martha," he said, dropping the flirtatious attitude. "What happened?"

"He broke up with me, that's what," she said fiercely, turning to look at Jack. "He said he didn't think I was up for traveling through Africa. Excuse me, I traveled over the entire WORLD in the Year That Never Was. I think I can handle the backroads of Africa. I told him so, too, but he didn't believe me. It was all just an excuse."

She kept walking, but Jack followed her. "Want me to track him down and bring him in for questioning? Or torture?"

"No, thanks. I don't think he ever really loved me. I'm done with relationships for good. They never work out, not for me, anyways."

"Tell me, you're giving up after how many rejections?"

"One my THE Doctor, and one by my ex-fiancé doctor."

"Now there's your problem," Jack said confidently. "It's not you. It's the guy. You need to go after someone who's not a doctor."

"What, like you?" she answered sarcastically. "Thanks, but I don't need your love advice."

"Oh, Martha," Jack sighed as he watched her walk away. "What am I going to do with you?"

* * *

For the next month or so, Martha threw herself into her work. Jack often worried that she would overwork herself, but didn't say anything. She'd been through a lot, and she knew her own limits. But then, he noticed that her productivity levels were beginning to drop. Curious, he kept an even closer eye on her than usual, which is how he noticed the slight bit of tension between Martha and Mickey.

"Have you noticed the way Martha acts around Mickey?" he asked Gwen Cooper one day.

"No. Why? Should I notice?"

"Well, I just wanted to get a second opinion on whether or not it was obvious, or if it was just me imagining things."

"Jack, what are you saying?"

"I'm not saying anything. I just know I was instructed to watch them closely and that I've picked up on some tension. Possibly romantic tension, but I'm not sure yet."

"The great Jack Harkness not sure about romantic tension? That's a first. Now don't go playing matchmaker, you hear?"

"Now what makes you think I would do anything of the sort? I'm just having them out to a friendly dinner, and I wanted to make sure they didn't have an argument or something that might spoil it. I'm just being prepared."

Gwen eyed him suspiciously, but continued with her work without comment.

* * *

Martha walked into the restaurant shyly. She had double checked the address Jack had texted her, but it was fancier than she had expected.

"May I help you?" a stewardess asked.

"Yes, I'm with Jack Harkness," she said, praying he hadn't forgotten to get reservations.

"Harkness, table of three. Follow me, please."

Martha followed her all the way to the very back corner table of the restaurant. Mickey had already arrived and was sitting uncomfortably by himself, glancing awkwardly around the mostly empty dining area. The lighting, already low, was made softer by two romantic candles and rose petals scattered on the table cloth. She took her seat across the table.

"Evening," Mickey said shortly.

"Hi," Martha said nervously. "Is Jack here?"

"No, not yet. I haven't seen him since this afternoon when he got called away on a mission."

"Yeah, me neither." There was a moment's silence. "Oh, I should agreed when he offered for me to pick the restaurant," she said apologetically. "It feels so formal."

"And romantic," Mickey added, nodding at the tables.

"Only Jack would pick this place," Martha said with a laugh.

"You got that right," Mickey agreed. "You ever wonder how he can afford it?"

"Well, he was a time traveller. Maybe his family was super rich or something?"

"Yeah, maybe." There was another pause. "You wanna ask him, or me?"

"What? No, we can't ask him that!"

"Yeah, but aren't you curious?

"A little," Martha admitted.

"We'll have to be sneaky about it. Like, just casually ask about his family and where he's from. That could work."

Around the corner, Jack was dying with silent laughter. His "mission" earlier that afternoon had been bribing the restaurant owner into letting him volunteer for one night only, at one specific table. Afterwards, he had gone into deep cover, donning a prosthetic mask that made him look french and totally unrecognizable. Jack Harkness would inexplicably _not_ show up for dinner that evening, and this was definitely _not_ a friendly dinner as he had told Gwen.

It took him a moment to compose himself to walk around and present the couple with their bottle of red wine. As expected, they did not recognize him and went on talking.

This was going to be fun.

* * *

"Madame and monsieur," Jack said in his french accent. "I'm afraid I must ask you to leave now."

"Sorry," Martha said, struggling to recover from her laughter. Mickey was crying he was laughing so hard. "Did we do something wrong?"

"Nothing, madame. But it is closing time, and the rest of us need to go home."

"Oh! God, I didn't even realize. Sorry. We'll be on our way now."

"Thank you, Madame."

"What time is it?" Mickey asked as Jack left.

"Nearly 11:30," Martha said, giggling. "We're going to be exhausted tomorrow."

"Coffee," Mickey agreed.

"Definitely," she said. Suddenly she stopped. "Oh. Jack never showed up."

"Oh," Mickey said, looking around the empty restaurant. "I'd forgotten bout that."

"Yeah…do you suppose we have to pay?"

"I'll cover it," Mickey said.

"Let me at least help," she said. "It's got to be expensive."

"No, I meant I'm going to cover it for now. He's paying me back in the morning, I'll make sure of that."

Martha grinned as they walked, unknowingly back over to Jack. He looked up from clearing the table expectantly.

"May I help you?"

"We never received our bill," Mickey said.

"Oh, pardon me monsieur, I must have forgotten to tell you. A young gentlemen already paid for your meal."

"Who?" Martha asked.

"I do not know, madame; I did not serve his table. You were my only guests tonight. I had received special instructions to give you all my attention. Goodnight."

"I bet it was Jack," Martha said. "You know what he did, don't you? He was setting us up."

"What, Captain Jack Harkness? Not in a million years," Mickey said sarcastically.

"I bet you anything he'll have some lame excuse tomorrow morning," she said. "Just you wait."

"Oh, I don't care. I had fun, didn't you?"

"I did," she said sincerely. "You know, I didn't realize how lonely I was at Unit. I mean, they knew about the Doctor, and my family did too, but nobody knows what's it's _like_ to travel with him. How it leaves you hanging."

"Tell me about it," Mickey agreed.

"You had it even worse, stuck in a parallel universe where he never existed."

"Until now, if my theory is right."

"I think it probably is."

They walked for awhile in companionable silence.

"Hey, you know what we should do?" Mickey asked suddenly.

"What?" Martha asked, smiling.

"Torchwood is great and all, but like you said earlier, it can be kind of constricting work. It's not like we couldn't survive on our own."

"Wait, are you saying we should go off on our own?"

"What's wrong with freelancing?"

Martha thought for a moment. "Nothing," she said finally. "But I need to think about it when it's not the middle of the night before I decide."

Surprised, Mickey looked down at her. "Seriously?"

"Well, weren't you being serious?"

"I was just joking around."

"It's a good thought, though," Martha said encouragingly.

Mickey thought about it some more. "Yeah, it is actually! You know what that means? I'm a midnight genius!" He leapt up on a stone wall triumphantly. "By day, Ricky the idiot, but by night, Mickey the genius!"

Martha laughed. "You're not an idiot. That's just what the Doctor thought about you. Which is an opinion to be ignored."

"Yeah, that's right! I'm the unsung hero of World War Three."

"You did more than that, you stopped it," Martha said.

"That's right, I did," he said smugly. "See, that's what I'm talking about. We're more than capable of fighting aliens on our own."

"We'll talk about it in the morning," Martha said as they bounded up the steps.

"Oh, we're already at the apartment," Mickey said, looking around surprised. "I didn't even realize."

"I didn't either," she said, unlocking her apartment. "See you tomorrow."

"It is tomorrow."

"In the morning, then. G'nite, Mickey."

"G'nite, Martha."

* * *

Jack met them both at the coffee shop the next morning. All three of them looked exhausted and only half awake.

"Hey guys," he said, yawning. "Sorry I missed last night."

"Mmm hmm," Martha said suspiciously. "Did you forget?"

"No, I was called away on a mission earlier that afternoon, remember? I'll have you know I was working very hard fighting aliens and stuff."

"Riight," Mickey said. "Well we don't need _you_ to have fun, do we Martha?"

"No. Actually, we had a lot of fun, so thanks for inviting us, even if you couldn't make it. Thanks for paying for dinner, by the way." She sipped her coffee and watched his reaction.

"I guess that's fair," he said, pulling out his checkbook. "I was going to pay it originally. How much was it?"

"You mean it wasn't you who paid last night?" Mickey asked.

"How could I? I wasn't anywhere near there. Why would you think it was me?"

"Well someone paid for it," Martha said. "It seemed to me like you were trying to set us up."

"Now why would I do a thing like that?" Jack asked innocently.

Martha shrugged and downed the rest of her coffee. "Since you're not going to admit it, I'm not going to waste my time. See you down at the office. Are you coming?" she asked Mickey.

"You go on ahead. I'm going to get myself another cup." He watched until he could not longer see her, then turned back to Jack. "You may not have been trying to set us up, but seriously, do you think she would go out with me if I asked?"

Jack grinned. "That's twice now that you and Martha, TOGETHER, have talked about the possibility of me setting you two up. And she didn't protest either time. Dude, YES."

"How did you…it was you, wasn't it?"

"Duh. Jack Harkness was no where nearby, that part was true. But my alter ego was."

"Okay…but when's a good time to ask her?"

"Now."

"Now?"

"Just run after her and ask! Is that really so hard?"

Mickey's eyes grew wide. "Ok, I'm going to do it."

"Quick, before you lose your courage."

"Right."

He stood and began walking quickly after Martha.

"By the way," Jack called. "It was your waiter. He paid for the meal."

Mickey looked back at him, then took off in a run. Jack lifted his own coffee in the air after them in a toast and grinned ear to ear.

"Well done, Jack."


	4. The Freelancers

**Author's Note: Credit for inspiring this chapter goes to Jesuslovesmarina, who posted this review on the last chapter:**

 **"HAHAHAHA little does Jack know getting them together means they're now going to go off on freelance and leave him without his best agents. Well, that's how it works in real life, isn't it?"**

 **I realized that Jack doesn't realize Martha and Mickey's intentions, and his reactions to that might be fun to play around with.**

 **I was right.**

* * *

"Are you alright?" Martha asked him as they walked up the stairs into Torchwood.

"Just a little nervous," Mickey said. "He may not be too happy about this."

"Well, he's just going to have to deal with it."

"I'm just going to have to deal with what?" Jack asked, sneaking up behind and throwing his arms around the two of them.

"Oh, there you are!" Martha said cheerfully. "We had some news for you."

"You're getting married!" Jack declared. "Oh, that's wonderful!"

"Whoa, easy, mate," Mickey said. "We've been dating for like two days. That's moving a little fast."

"But you didn't say no," Jack pointed out.

"J-Jack, listen," Martha blustered, trying to steer the conversation in the direction she wanted. "It's not that. I'm afraid we're going to resign from Torchwood."

"What?" Now, this really did take Jack by surprise. He pulled his friends to a halt. "But why? I thought you guys loved it here."

"We do like it," Mickey said. "It's a great job. But we've found something better."

"Like what? If someone's paying you better, we'll pay you double!"

"It's not the money," Martha said. "We just think it would be better for us if we went out on our own. You know, track down any aliens we want, fight them, and no paperwork."

"We're going to be freelancers."

"You can't do that!"

"Why not?" Martha asked. "We can survive on our own. I can survive by myself if I had to. UNIT was great and all, but all those rules and the corruption…even though there's not as much at Torchwood, I'm just tired of it all, you know?"

"And I've done Torchwood ever since I found the parallel universe. I want something new from a change."

"But you guys are my best agents!" Jack insisted.

"I know," Martha said. "I'm sure we'll be a tragic loss. But it's the best for us, especially after what we've been through."

"And we don't need your approval," Mickey added. "We're doing it whether you like it or not."

"When is your last day?" Jack asked.

"Today I suppose. We've only come in to resign, we're not doing any work."

Jack's jaw dropped.

* * *

"Martha!" Jack's urgent voice cut across the phone. "Where are you?"

"Shopping at the grocery up the street from Torchwood, why?"

"We're under attack, we need you! Hurry, Martha, please…ahh!" The call ended with a click.

"Jack!" Martha tried to call back, but there was no response.

"C'mon, we better go see what's wrong," Mickey said.

They left the buggy in the aisle and raced out of the store, much to the shock of the other customers. Torchwood could be seen a few blocks away, and it looked peaceful on the outside. Carefully, they slipped in through the door into the eerily quiet and clean foyer. Down the hall, Mickey saw Jack gagged and tied to a chair, trying to squirm out.

"Jack!" he ran over and tried to untie him while Martha scrambled to find a weapon to defend herself.

There was a low growl in the dark corner, and Jack tried to warn them through the gag. Martha grabbed a metal bar and turned to face the creature. It was roughly the height of a human, a little thicker, and covered in dark brown fur. The paws were huge and had long talons instead of claws, but it was the head that really threw Martha off. It looked like a dog's head with gleaming fangs, but the proportion of the eyes… Without hesitation, Martha set down the bar and walked straight up to the monster. It swung its huge paws at her.

"Very funny," she said, ducking under the clumsy lunge.

"What are you doing?" Mickey hissed, still trying to untie Jack.

"Trying to find the zipper," she said. "Where is it, Ianto?"

The creature sighed, and then Ianto's voice came through the muffled disguise. "Where the neck meets the head."

"Ianto!" Jack said as Mickey finally ungagged him.

Martha flipped off the head, revealing a resigned Ianto.

"What, so that was a fake?" Mickey asked.

"For the record, it was Jack's idea."

Martha crossed her arms and looked at him. "Don't untie him, Mickey. Let's interrogate him first."

"Oh, come on!"

"What were you doing?" she asked.

"I was trying to get you to see how much we need you. You're my best agents."

"Oh, thanks, Jack," Ianto said.

"You didn't need us," Mickey said. "This was a setup, it wasn't real."

"Yeah, but it could have been!" Jack pointed out, looking dead serious.

"Nice try," Martha said, smiling. "We're not coming back."

* * *

The phone rang in the middle of the night, waking Mickey out of a restless sleep. Fearing it might be Martha, he immediately answered.

"Hello?"

"Good, you're awake!"

"Jack? What time is it?"

"Three in the morning."

"What!" Mickey sat up straight. "Why the hell are you calling me? Is something wrong? Is Martha alright?"

"Oh no, it's fine," Jack said, energetically. "I just had an amazing alien encounter and now I'm wide awake with nothing to do. Pretty much running on coffee and adrenaline right now."

"Right…" Mickey said slowly. "Maybe you should go to sleep."

"I can't. I wanted to talk to you about you and Martha, and since she's not there right now…eh, unless she is?"

"No," Mickey said.

"Anyway, I figured now is a great time to talk with you alone."

"Ok…"

"I know it's mostly Martha's idea that you should leave. I know you really don't want to leave, right. I was thinking maybe you could talk some sense into her…"

"Jack," Mickey said, annoyed. "It's 3:00 AM!"

"Yeah," Jack said.

"I know what you're doing. You decided to call me when I wasn't thinking clearly. You were trying to con me into staying."

There was a moments pause and Jack laughed uneasily. "What? Now…why would I do that?"

"And just so you know, I was the one who came up with the idea."

"What? Oh. So…I guess you're not the person I should be talking to."

"Oi, don't call Martha! I mean it."

"I can't ever call her again?" Jack whined.

"Not until 7:00 AM, at the _earliest_! And I don't think talking to her will make much difference, so don't even try, actually."

"Watch me."

* * *

About a week later, Martha and Mickey received an invitation from one of their apartment neighbors to a housewarming party. Apparently, "Janine" had moved in last week, and was throwing a party to meet everyone. Although it was the day before Halloween, costumes weren't required, which was a relief to Martha, since neither of them had anything to wear.

The next night Mickey knocked on the door of 613, and the door swung open. The room was dark and smelled damp, and cobwebs hung all over the place. Everything was silent, there were no trace of people.

"Careful," Mickey whispered. "It could be a trap."

"Or an elaborate prank," Martha whispered back as they cautiously entered. "Are you sure about the address?"

"Definitely."

Suddenly there was a loud crash in the bedroom to their right, and the door swung ominously shut. They turned sharply, Mickey unintentionally grabbing Martha's arm in fright.

"It's alright," Martha whispered comfortingly. "Is anyone there?" she called.

"Oooooo!" a voice sang from behind them.

Turning again, they saw Gwen Cooper standing in the kitchen. Her clothes were in tattered and there was a large bleeding cut on her cheek. But strangest of all was the fact that her entire body glowed blue-grey, almost like a hologram.

"Gwen? What are you doing here? Are you alright?" Martha asked. Mickey hurriedly let go of her arm.

"I died," Gwen said dully, looking straight ahead and slightly cocking her head to one side. "There was a real attack at Torchwood. Daleks swarmed us. Ianto and I were killed almost instantly, we didn't stand a chance."

Slightly suspicious, Martha stepped forward and reached a hand out for Gwen's shoulder. Her hand passed right through it.

"But ghosts don't exist," she said.

"Martha," Gwen said, smiling at her sadly. "You of all people know that the impossible isn't always impossible. That's just how are lives are. Were, in my case," she corrected quickly.

"What happened to Jack?"

"Died and came back to life again, I expect. He needs your help. The Daleks are still out there and they're going to try and take over the earth again. Jack needs you to come back to Torchwood."

Mickey rolled his eyes. "This is just another of Jack's tricks to get us to come back, isn't it?"

Gwen opened her mouth to say something, but then stopped. "I told Jack it wouldn't work," she said.

"C'mon, Gwen!" Jack's voice came from nowhere. "You could at least have put a little effort into it."

"I did my best," Gwen said irritably. "Everyone else gets it…they're not coming back. Stop denying it."

"So what is it, a hologram?" Martha asked, waving her hand through Gwen again.

"Yeah," Jack said, pushing Gwen aside and appearing in her place. "The best I could get, too. We've been working on it for months."

"Well, you nearly had me there, I'll give you that," Martha said. "And you scared poor Mickey to pieces."

"Did not! I knew all along it was a joke."

"Yeah, right," Jack said, laughing. "We set up cameras in the apartment so I could watch your reactions."

"What about Janine?" Martha asked, concerned.

"There is no Janine," Jack said. "I just made fake invitations for you too and used the empty room. We just had to throw a lot of dust on it and wait for the spiderwebs to pop up."

"It's pretty impressive, but the answer is still no," Martha said gently. "It's been three weeks since we decided, and nothing is going to change that. I'm sorry."

Jack sighed. "The price I pay for setting you two up. But I guess it would have happened sooner or later. Tell you what, let's do a partnership. Torchwood will give you weapons and transport whenever you need it, and wherever you need it if it's possible. In addition, we'll secure you a safe house in case you ever want to retire. Or you can use it as your base, either way. And if you ever want to come back to work for us, the door is always open and you're guaranteed a job."

"And in return?" Martha asked.

"If we do need you, come back and help us. Especially in world wide attacks. Deal?"

"Sounds fair to me. Mickey?"

"Deal."

"Good," Jack said, smiling sadly. "You know my number."

The hologram snapped off, leaving Martha and Mickey in the abandoned apartment.

"Well…" Mickey said. "We got no other plans. Dinner at my place?"

Martha smiled, stood on tiptoe, and kissed him, much to his surprise.

"I'll order pizza."

* * *

"Jack, are you alright?" Gwen asked as she wiped the blood makeup from her face.

Jack leaned heavily against the hologram machine back at Torchwood.

"Yeah," he said with a sigh. "I guess I expected that to work. I wonder if this is how the Doctor feels whenever his companions had to leave him."

"Hey," she said. "You've still got me and Rhys and Ianto."

"Yeah," Jack said, nodding. "I do. Still, I'll miss them."


	5. Donna

A few days after Martha and Mickey began dating, Jack decided to see if Donna was home visiting her family. Her address had been left on the note the Doctor gave him, which had to mean something. When he went to her house, he was met by an old man.

"Who are you?" the man asked.

"Captain Jack Harkness. I traveled with the Doctor and I met Donna..."

"Shh! Not a word. Give me a minute."

He closed the door. Jack could hear the yelling from the other side.

"Dad! Where do you think you're going?"

"Out for a coffee with a friend of mine," the man yelled. "Or maybe a cup of soothing tea. I'll be back soon."

He returned, this time with a coat and a red beanie hat. "My name's Wilfred Mott, but you can call me Wilf. I'm her grandfather."

On the way to the cafe, Wilf explained to Jack about the cost of the Metacrisis, and how Donna's memories had to be erased. Jack was stunned.

"The Doctor didn't tell you?"

"No, last I saw him she was still with him. I got a note asking me to keep an eye on everyone, and their addresses, including Donna's. I just thought maybe he wanted me to check on her when she was in town visiting her family."

"Maybe he didn't know then."

"He would have known."

"Yeah, he probably would have."

"I'll have to think of something else then. Randomly run into her at the park one day and start talking."

"Well, here's my number if you want to keep in touch," Wilf said, writing on a napkin. "We'll just say you were the son of one of my army buddies."

"You fought in World War II?"

"Well, I joined the army. But it was over before I had to kill anyone."

"Technically, I could BE your old army buddy."

"What, you?"

"What can I say? I'm a time traveller."

Wilf grinned. "We'll definitely keep in touch."

* * *

Eventually, Jack did run into her at the park, and the two became good friends. It saddened him, though, when he realized how much the fiery red-head struggled. Traveling with the Doctor had helped her conqueror a lot, he realized, and she'd been forced to throw all her progress away and start afresh. Jack helped her of course, but it wasn't the same. He wondered if she'd ever get back to the Donna he knew.

"Oi, Jack!" Donna said a few months later as she met him for their weekly coffee. "You'll need guess what happened last night!"

"The sun went down."

"No, dumbo. That happens every night. Guess what happened last night!"

Jack looked at her shining eyes. She hadn't been this happy since the Tardis. But he couldn't bring that up.

"Something good?"

"Something amazing! You know Shaun Temple?"

"Oh, the guy you dumped me for," Jack said teasingly.

"Shut up, you old flirt," Donna said, shoving him good-naturedly. "We were never dating, we were always just friends. So I didn't "dump" you. But last night, Shaun asked me to marry him!"

"No," Jack said in disbelief, grinning.

"Flippin' yes!"

"I don't believe it. What did you say?"

"I said "yes," obviously! What do you think?"

"Well," he began wistfully. "I'm disappointed that it isn't me..."

"Shut up, Jack!" she said, still smiling.

"...but I am happy for you," he finished.

"I knew you would be. You'll come to the wedding?"

"I wouldn't miss it in the world. Have you set a date yet?"

"We almost planned the whole thing last night we got so excited! We don't have the exact date yet, but we were thinking in August."

"As long as it's not the 25th," Jack said. "I'll be there."

"Why? What's the 25th?"

"I'm going to be the best man at Martha and Mickey's wedding. Other friends of mine," he quickly added.

"Alright, well we won't schedule it then. You have to be there!"

After Wilf told her what happened at her last wedding, Jack was on high alert. He checked out the buildings for the ceremony and reception. Once Wilf sneaked a copy of the guest list to him, he double checked all their backgrounds and secretly scanned them to make sure there were no unexpected aliens. The day of the wedding, his scan for alien tech brought up nothing, but he could never be too careful. Luckily, the wedding went off without a hitch, and Donna Noble became Mrs. Shaun Temple-Noble.

Afterwards, when Donna was taking pictures with her bridesmaids, Jack spotted the Tardis half hidden in the garden. Ten was talking with Wilf and Sylvia a short distance away. The Doctor didn't seem to notice him, though, and left almost immediately after Jack spotted him. Wilf saluted as the Tardis silently dematerialized.

The next day, as Jack secretly followed the two on their honeymoon to Venice (under deep cover of course), he heard Donna scream with delight when she found out she won the lottery with those random tickets. Jack grinned, realizing what the Doctor had done for them. Their first few years would not be as great of a struggle, at least, not financially.

Even though their weekly luncheons had to be reduced to monthly, Jack could see the difference Shaun was having in Donna's life. Not only he could be hold his own against her sass, he was also changing her in a good way, the way the Doctor had. Five years later, he realized that something else would change her life.

He had been called on a last minute mission the previous month (Donna thought he worked with the government and couldn't say much about his unpredictable week), and Donna had been forced to cancel the month before, so it had been three months since he last saw her. So it was already a happy meeting.

She had just finished ordering when he crept up behind her and covered her eyes.

"Jack," she chided as she turned around. "Don't scare me like that!"

Jack's jaw dropped, as he could now see that she was visibly pregnant.

"When did this happen?" he asked, astonished.

"Six months ago," she said gently, brimming with quiet happiness.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked a few minutes later once they were both seated.

"We didn't tell anyone for months. You know Shaun and I have been trying for ages to have a baby. But they never made it."

"I'm so sorry. I never knew."

"Only our parents and Gramps knew. It was too painful to talk about. We didn't want to bring anyone's hopes up, so we kept it a secret until three months. I was going to tell you in person but things kept happening."

"Yeah, sorry about last time," Jack said. "My mission..." He paused. "Business meeting ran longer than expected," he finished quickly.

"Understandable," Donna said.

"So, boy or girl?"

"A girl. If it was a boy we would have named it Jack."

"Aww, I'm touched. Maybe next time. But since it's a girl...?"

"I'm thinking about Ella Rose."

"Ella Rose. That's a beautiful name."

"I thought so, too."

"How'd you come up with it?"

Donna paused, and she seemed vaguely confused for a moment. Jack was used to this. There were huge gaps in Donna's life that didn't make sense without the Doctor, and this, he suspected, was one of those times.

"I...I don't remember. I've just always liked those names."

"Well, it's a beautiful name, and I'm sure she'll grow up to be beautiful like her mother."

Donna snapped out of her trance and smiled at him.


	6. Ella Rose

Ella Rose Temple-Noble was born nearly two months later, five weeks before her due date. She gave everyone a bit of scare and was in the NICU for awhile, but, like Donna, she was a fighter. She lived, much to Donna's relief. Only her family and Jack knew how scared she was during Ella's first few months.

Because of the health complications, it was awhile before Jack and Donna got together again. Towards the end of lunch, Jack was surprised to see Eleven walking towards them.

"Hullo, Jack! Good to see you again," he said casually, completely ignoring Donna. He noticed Ella in her stroller, though, and knelt down. "Hullo! What's your name?"

"Ella Rose," Donna said proudly.

"That's a beautiful name! I like it. Jack, I didn't know you were married."

Jack was a little confused, trying to figure out what the Doctor's game was.

"Oh no, we're not a couple. This is Donna Temple-Noble, one of my best friends. Donna, this is the Doctor."

"What are you a Doctor of?" Donna inquired politely.

"I'm a foot doctor," the Doctor said matter-of-factly. "You know, bunions," he added confidentially. Jack inwardly rolled his eyes and groaned.

"Ah," Donna said sagely. "Well, I'll give you a call if Ella has trouble with her feet."

"Well, she's got lovely feet. Hopefully, she won't ever need to see me. How old is she?"

"Six months, though I can hardly believe it," Donna said with a sigh.

"Time does fly with your children, doesn't it? Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. Carry on."

"It's alright, it's about time we were leaving anyway."

"Well, then, I'll let you say your goodbyes. Talk to you later, Jack."

He winked at him and moved on to the bar. Donna pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows at him.

"He's a bit eccentric," Jack explained.

"Foot bunions?" she asked, hardly able to contain her giggles.

"Oh. No, I don't have bunions. That isn't how we met and that's not what he wants to talk to me about."

"Whatever you say," Donna said, shrugging. "I don't believe you."

"Right. Until next time?"

Donna's face dropped. "Actually, I think we need to hold off until Ella Rose is older. It was hard enough getting this time to work out."

"Totally understandable. I knew we wouldn't be able to keep it up forever. Just invite me over to dinner ever now and then, and send me pictures."

"Oh don't worry, you're not getting off that easy."

* * *

"Bunions? Really? That was the best you could do?"

"Well, I knew Ella Rose had health problems and I didn't want to accidentally be recruited to treat her at something I didn't know what to do. I had to pick something that she probably didn't need. That was the first thing I could think of."

"She's never gonna let me live this down," Jack groaned.

"Sorry," the Doctor said, chuckling.

"So, you've decided to show back up in her life."

"New face, she won't recognize me now. It's safer. Of course, I won't be heavily involved. It's not safe for me. But I can be the random stranger that holds the door open, or carries her groceries to her car. Little conversations about the weather, and baby's health. Nothing about the past." He gazed down at his drink in deep thought, and abruptly changed the conversation. "Ella Rose. Odd that those two names stuck."

"I asked her about it, but she couldn't remember. She went into a daze so I changed her the subject."

"Good. She can't ever start to remember."

"Where did Ella come from? I mean, Rose is obvious but I never heard about an Ella."

"You know about The Library, of course?"

"Of course."

"When the Vashta Nerada invaded and closed it for one hundred years, the computer uploaded and saved all of the visitors into a virtual world, where they could live somewhat normal lives, get married, and have kids. Donna and I visited during that time, accidentally of course, and she was saved to the virtual world. She met someone, they got married, and had twins. The girl's name was Ella. She wasn't real, neither of the kids were. But for Donna, for a moment, they were. It was hard on her when she returned to reality."

"I can imagine," Jack said. He sighed. "She's been through a lot, hasn't she?"

"She doesn't remember most of it," the Doctor said, his voice cracking. "But maybe that's for the best. The silver lining."

"Did you ever find your friend?" Jack asked.

"Ah, yes! Last time you met I was looking for Clara. That was ages ago. I did find her! And I solved her mystery. She jumped into my time stream and created echoes of herself. And no, I am not hooking you up."

"I didn't say anything!"

"Yeah, but I could tell what you were thinking."

"Actually, I was thinking if you ended up tutoring Rose."

"Yep, I did that, too. Clara became her English teacher, so between us we had her covered for about two years. Once she got to high school we had to stop. It was too close to the time where I met her the first time. I didn't want to accidentally interfere with events."

"It's probably because of you she ended up dropping out," Jack joked. "She didn't have a good tutor."

"Yeah, but if she had graduated, she might have gotten a better job. She may never have worked where she did, and we might never have met. So it's a good thing I left when I did."

"Good point," Jack said. "Well, I'd better get going. Thanks for stopping by to chat. Will I be seeing you again?"

"Anything's possible with me," the Doctor said quietly. "Jack," he called as Jack began to walk away. "Thanks for looking out for them for me."

"Not a problem, Doctor. It was my pleasure."

* * *

Donna was right, they didn't get much of a chance to meet up after that. They kept up through Facebook and email, and every now and then Wilf would invite Jack over to dinner, and Donna would come if Ella didn't need her. A few years later, when she was older and healthier, however, they started meeting up for lunch again. Sometimes, if she wasn't in school, Ella would join them, coloring pictures and occasionally asking Jack his opinion on color. So she was quite used to his presence; everyone within the Temple-Noble family was.

Which is why it really should not have shocked Jack when Donna asked him to become Ella's godfather.

"Wait, are you sure about this?"

"Definitely! I've thought it through and talked with Shaun, my mum, and gramps. They all agree. You've been involved with me before I was even engaged, and you've been with Ella-Rose since she was born. It only seems right."

"I don't know if I would qualify," Jack said hesitantly.

"Look, I know your job is dangerous and you can't tell me what it is. But what are the odds of me, Shaun, and you dying and leaving Ella-Rose to the state orphanages?"

"Highly unlikely," Jack admitted. Actually impossible, he thought. But he didn't mention his condition-which actually made him highly qualified-to Donna.

"I mean, if you don't want to, that's fine," she said roughly, trying to shrug it off.

Jack sighed. "For anyone else I would say no," he said. "But since it's you..."

"Oh! Thank you."

"It's not like I wouldn't look out for her if you died anyways."

* * *

Maybe it was because Donna had hated herself so much, and she didn't want her daughter to grow up the same way, or maybe Ella Rose was born with it naturally. Whatever the reason, she grew up full of love and confidence. She knew she was intelligent and pretty, but she wasn't cocky about it either. Donna was extremely proud of her, and told her so often.

Whenever Donna and Shaun were busy, "Uncle Jack" walked her to school and from school. Even into adulthood, these days were some of Ella's favorite memories. As it happened, he was able to take her for her first day of 2nd grade.

"So, did everything go well at school today?" he asked as he picked her up.

"Yes! I made a new friend today. Her name was Rose, almost like me!"

"Really?" Jack asked. "Do you remember her last name?"

"Yes, I think it was Smith, like our maths teacher. He's really good, even if he dresses funny."

"Mr. Smith, huh? What does he dress like?"

"No, it's Doctor Smith. We call him Doctor. I don't think he dresses that funny. He has a cool bowtie and jacket."

Jack laughed. "I think I know just the person you're talking about."

"Did he teach you when you were in school? He said he was old."

"No, he didn't teach me. But we're good friends."

"Does he know mummy, too?"

Jack paused. "No," he lied. "I think they might have met once or twice, but they don't know each other personally. Tell me about your new friend." Ella looked slightly worried. "Hey," he said, swinging her up onto his shoulders. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

Ella took a deep breath. "Some of the other kids didn't play with her because her skin is dark. But I did because she was nice and really funny. Was I wrong?"

Jack grinned. "No, honey. The other kids were wrong."

She smiled, relieved. "That's good."

"And you know what else? I think I know Rose's parents, and I might be able to arrange some play dates for you."

"Yay! Do you know everybody?"

"Not quite," Jack chuckled. "But I"m working on it."

They reached the house right as Donna was pulling in the driveway. She got out of the car and ran over to them excitedly.

"Ella Rose!" she cried, pulling her down from Jack's shoulders. "Did you have a good first day at school?"

"Yes, mummy. I made a new friend named Rose, and Uncle Jack know her parents so he says we can have play dates together."

"If it's alright with you," Jack added.

"If you know them and trust them, it's good enough for me," Donna said, who was a bit protective of Ella Rose sometimes.

"Can we play today?"

"No, love. Don't you remember? Grandma and Gramps are coming over for dinner tonight. You can stay, too, Jack, if you like."

"I wish I could, but I can't," he apologized. "I have a a shift at Tor…my job tonight. I'll come another night, I promise."

"Alright," Donna sighed. "See you later then."

"Bye, Uncle Jack!" Ella Rose said, waving enthusiastically.

"Bye, sweetie," Jack said.

As he hurried back to Torchwood, he couldn't help wondering if Ella, too, might one day become a companion of the Doctor's.


	7. The Void

It was a quiet day at Torchwood, which drove Jack insane. There were no aliens, no big events to be investigating, nothing was wrong with the building…there was absolutely nothing to do. He had even checked the readings on the Void to make sure it was stable.

It had been 18 years since the Daleks had stolen the earth and the Doctor and his companions had defeated him. For 18 years Jack had faithfully watched over the ones who had been left behind, and reported to the Doctor whenever he had seen him. Recently, Jack had met him again, and asked about the Metacrisis, and the Doctor had confirmed his theory about leaving him and Rose in Pete's World, on the other side of the Void. It was a thought that he couldn't get out of his mind.

"What if we could establish a visual to the other world," he said aloud. "Not open the Void enough to get across and collapse the universes, but just enough to see and talk with Rose and the Metacrisis Doctor?"

Gwen looked at him like he was insane. "Why would you want to do that?"

Jack shrugged. "To check in, see how they're doing. Let them know how everyone here is doing, etc. Besides, I'm bored, and I need a good project."

"It would be nearly impossible," Gwen said, flustered. "It would require enormous amount of energy from both sides to keep it from collapsing…"

"You said "nearly impossible." _Nearly_ is our key word here. I want to see numbers, charts, and data. I want to get every piece of alien equipment we can possibly use for power in the Void room."

"I'm on it, boss," Gwen said, turning back to her computer.

The room where Torchwood had first opened the Void and let in the Cybermen, the room where Rose had first been separated from the Doctor, had been left empty save for a single piece of machinery that was monitoring the energy signals. Jack had named it the Void room, and hardly anyone had gone in there for the past 20 years. Until now.

As he examined the blank white room, he took out his cell phone and dialed a number.

"Martha! Good to hear from you again. Listen, I need a favor of you. We're trying to contact Rose and her Doctor in the parallel world. Do you think you could get us some things from UNIT?"

* * *

It took several weeks to get everything together and properly assembled, and after that it was another couple months before they could get it to work. There was a lot of guesswork, trial and error, but Jack never gave up. Progress slowed down when the work picked up again, but in every spare moment he had, he worked on it. Four months, two weeks, six days, and ten hours after the first prototype had been built, Jack pulled the lever and pressed the buttons for the last time.

"Test 567 is a go, ladies and gentlemen!" he yelled, running behind the protective shield that had been put up after test 1 had failed dramatically.

In front of the complicated device, a bright light—technically pure energy—shone and twirled. The machine creaked and steamed and whistled, but so far it was holding up. A gap in the energy appeared, and a glimpse of something beyond the white wall was seen for a split second. Then the entire thing disappeared and the machine fell silent.

"Come on!" Jack yelled. "Oh, we're close, we're close!"

He ran out from the behind the shield, much to Gwen's chagrin.

"Jack, be careful! Remember what happened last time!"

Jack abandoned all ideas and memories from last time as he kicked the apparatus. The noises began again and the light reappeared. Just as before, they could see a glimpse of something beyond the wall. The view was shaking and kept flickering in and out.

"Doctor!" Jack yelled. "Rose! Are you there?"

"Try again, five minutes!" yelled the unmistakable voice of the Doctor right as the view zapped out again.

Quickly, Jack turned the machine off to let it rest.

"Was that it?" Gwen asked eagerly. "Did we do it?"

"Either that or we somehow contacted this universe's Tardis."

He double checked everything on the instrument and five minutes later turned it back on. There was a few seconds of stutter, then it sharpened. This time, the view had expanded to a whole view of the Tardis' main room. The Tenth Doctor stood at the console, smiling proudly.

"There we go, that's better! Window to a parallel universe. Brilliant."

"Doctor! Did we do it? Are you the one from the parallel universe?"

"Doctor?" Rose's voice came from out of view. "What's going on? What on earth is that?" She walked around so she could see through and squealed with joy. "Jack!"

"Rose!" he exclaimed. "Gwen, look, we did it! We've made contact!"

"You nearly got it on your own, too," the Doctor said. "But it needed something on both sides of the Void. How'd you do that?"

"Bit of everything we could find. Alien technology Torchwood had collected, my own ingenuity…oh, and Martha helped us get some UNIT stuff, too."

"Very impressive. What do you call it?"

"Tardis 2.0."

"You can't call it that! That's what we call our new Tardis."

"Alright, I was only joking. I call it the Dimension Window, or D.W. for short."

"Good name," the Doctor said, nodding. "Rose, go and get the kids, they'll want to meet the famous Captain Jack."

"Kids?" Jack asked.

Rose grinned and ran off. "Oi, you lot! Who wants to meet Captain Jack Harkness?"

"I like the new Tardis," Jack said approvingly. "How long did it take to grow?"

"It finished only a few days ago," the Doctor said. "We haven't even traveled very much."

There was a thunder of footsteps and several children appeared, peering into the window curiously.

"Oh, you have been busy," Jack smirked.

"Shut up, Jack," Rose said. "The oldest is Donna, then we have the twins, Alonso and Narnia…this one's not ours, he's a family friend. Tenor, you know who Jack is, right?"

"I've heard stories," Tenor nodded.

"And then we have the two youngest, Luke and Gwen."

"You named your kid after her but not me?" Jack said, pointing at Gwen Cooper. "I'm disappointed in you, Doctor. Especially since you only met her once."

"We named her after Gwenyth," the Doctor said. "Your ancestor who helped us a long time ago."

"Still…two boys and no Jack."

"Sorry," Rose said. "But no."

"Well," Jack sighed. "I can't help but be disappointed, but they look like they're good kids anyway."

The younger kids giggled shyly.

"Alright, off you go," the Doctor said. "Back to…whatever it was you were doing."

"We were helping Sarah Jane and Clara in the kitchen," Gwen said. "Clara's making soufflé's."

"Again?" Rose asked. "You'd better go and help her."

The kids clambered off excitedly.

"Sarah Jane and Clara?" Jack asked.

"We've rounded up several of the old companions," the Doctor explained. "Martha, Donna, Sarah Jane, and the Williams, who were my future companions."

"How'd you know about them?"

"I met his Eleventh self once," Rose said. "He told me a few things I should remember when I get to the parallel universe, and that was one of them."

"But how did you know about Clara Oswald?"

"We were friends when we were children," Rose explained. "We both lived on the Powell Estate."

"Of course," Jack said, remembering the first time he had met Eleven. "Coincidentally, Doctor, you started traveling with her at some point."

"Really? That is an extraordinary coincidence. Now, tell me. How is everything in the other world?"

"We're doing pretty well. We had another cybermen attack, but you defeated them. Supposedly."

"What? How were there more cybermen?"

"The Master regenerated into a woman and was…well, according to the files she was uploading minds after humans died, and converting their bodies into cybermen. But the problem got taken care of, that's the important thing."

"How's Mickey?" Rose wanted to know.

"Oh, he and Martha are fine. They got married not too long after you guys left, their daughter Rose is 14 now, I think, and Addie's 10."

"Martha named her daughter _Rose_?" the Doctor asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I asked her about that. Apparently it was Mickey's idea, and she only consented to it after he insisted it was after a friend who saved the universe."

"Aww," Rose said, smiling. "Good for them!"

"I was best man at their wedding," Jack added.

"Have you been keeping an eye on them?" the Doctor asked.

"Well, you asked me to. Martha met with Sarah Jane for coffee once a week, so they stayed in touch too."

"How is that Sarah Jane?"

Jack's face fell. "I'm afraid she passed. She had a stroke about ten years ago, died not too long after. You spoke at the funeral and got custody of her kids, Luke and Sky."

"I didn't know she had a daughter," Rose said.

"She adopted her a few months before her stroke. They had a good life together, though."

The Doctor nodded sadly. "And…what about Donna?"

"Donna's doing ok. I "accidentally" ran into her at the park and introduced myself. We became good friends. She got married to a man named Shaun Temple, changed her name to Temple-Noble, and she had a little girl after a few years. It's weird the random things she can remember without realizing it. She named the girl Ella Rose. I asked her why but she just said she'd always loved the names."

"Wow," the Doctor said. "How old is Ella Rose now?"

"Fourteen, the same age as Rose Smith. They actually ended up going to the same school and became friends."

"You have stayed close," the Doctor commented. "Still connected after all this time."

"We can't get rid of each other," Jack laughed.

The D.W. shuddered and the picture blurred and narrowed.

"Hang on," the Doctor said, sonicking it. It didn't help. "I don't think we can hold the connection for much longer. It's a good bit of tech, but not good enough. I doubt you'll be able to make contact for awhile."

"Well, keep an eye out for incoming messages," Jack said, fiddling with the machinery. "We'll keep trying."

"Right."

"One more thing, Jack," Rose said. "Tell the Doctor, your Doctor, how we're doing for me.

"Not a problem," Jack replied. "See ya around."

"See ya," Rose said just as the connection snapped off.

"I'd call that a success," Jack said after a moment.

"I can't believe that actually worked," Gwen said. "Were we hallucinating?"

"Nah, that was real. If we were hallucinating or dreaming, Rose would have named her kid Jack instead of Alonso."

"You are joking, aren't you?"

Jack shrugged. "I'm not even sure myself. Come on, let's go find the Doctor."

* * *

 **Author's Note: this is technically the last chapter chronologically, but I had an idea about a follow up Martha and Mickey chapter. It's taking longer than I thought, so I went ahead and gave you this one. But be on the lookout! Also, the reason I used Gwen so much is she's the only character I really know, since I don't watch Torchwood. So...if she dies in TV Torchwood, pretend she didn't for my sake.**


End file.
